Report: The Old World Revisited: Future of the International Order in Eurasia

We are witnessing an unprecedented peacetime shift in wealth and power distribution from the West to the East. The Old World, Eurasia, although being full of divisions, regains the lead. How to ensure stability in the region? What place is destined for Russia in the new order?

As the world’s most densely populated countries, China and India get back their historical status as the major economic centres, which they possessed before the West’s surge to prominence at the start of the industrial age. The relative weakening of the United States efficiently pushes the centre of world hegemony back to the Old World, where it belonged historically. Nevertheless, the region suffers from geopolitical rifts and zones of anarchy, lacks infrastructure connectivity, calling for a stable continental security regime and constructive cooperation.

The strategic security of Eurasia depends on the strategies of many states. Each major power, such as China, India, Turkey, Iran, and others, has its own interests, ambitions, and spheres of influence. However, the long-term stability in Eurasia can be ensured by mutual engagement in joint projects. This is the only way to transform Eurasia from the background of geopolitics to the foreground of global politics — to a continent that is well connected by infrastructure and institutions, thus capable of bringing together the East and the West.